


The Night Creatures of Chandrila

by HalfwayThrough



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Little bit of Castlevania, Little bit of howl's moving castle, One Shot, Reylo Monster Week, Slow Burn, Steampunk AU, Vampires, victorian au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-26
Updated: 2018-10-26
Packaged: 2019-08-07 19:23:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16414421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HalfwayThrough/pseuds/HalfwayThrough
Summary: Rey lives in the town of Chandrila where each night the city is taken over my mysterious night creatures. Citizens lock themselves indoors and do not venture out at night. When unfortunate circumstances leaves her out after all the doors have been bolted, Rey finds herself at the curious attentions of one particular dusk monster.





	The Night Creatures of Chandrila

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! So I was very excited for Reylo Monster Week and then procrastinated A LOT. Technically it's still Day 1 on the west coast so I feel like it still counts. This is definitely kind of a weird AU and in a different vein than what I usually do but I kind of love it for that. So I hope you like my little vampire steampunk one shot <3

They come at night. The matron had always warned her charges never to be outside after dark. After dusk the creatures of the night came out and the city was there’s. Every child was instilled with fear from the day they were born. The second the sun starts to dip they were to run home or even take shelter in a neighbor’s house. Even strangers were better than the monsters that crawled out of shadows. When a child came of age it was tradition to gift them a silver charm to wear on their person. A parent’s last gift of safety as their child becomes an adult. 

However, children of the state are not blessed with such luxuries. 

Rey, now in her twenties and far away from her childhood home of the Jakku Home for Girls, makes her way through the winding cobblestones streets of Chandrila. A bag slung over her shoulder containing the scraps she talked a machinist into giving her. Her entire small room in the boarding house was covered in such trinkets being spliced together and twisted and sparked until they created something entirely new. Most of the things the girl managed to sell were of the protection variety- locks varnished with silver (or in her case silver colored paint), small spring-loaded mechanisms worn in a gentleman’s sleeve that could shoot out a silver blade. Most of them worked quite well, and those that didn’t… well Rey didn’t think these people would be caught out after dark anyway. 

There was money to be made in the business of night protection and she was determined to be apart of it. The matron at the Jakku home had only taught the girls simple tasks such as cleaning houses and caring for children. Most of the girls Rey had grown up with were already in such jobs. She’d see them sometimes in the market place, pushing trams or holding hands with children. Sometimes doing shopping for their mistress in the evening so the lady of the house didn’t risk being out so close to dusk. Most influential people rarely stepped outside anymore. Locked away in mansions they peeked out between their curtain only to observe. In a calm way the streets belonged entirely to the poor. 

A stiff wind blew through the street ruffling Rey’s skirts and nearly ripping her hat from her head. She placed a firm hand over the accessory, hurrying her pace as the sun melted into a deep orange color as it began its decent. 

Rey was no longer afraid of the night. She often arrived at the door to her boarding house right as they were looking the doors. She had never seen any creatures and one might be inclined to think they never existed if it weren’t for the Aftermath. 

Every morning crews could sweep the streets, carrying the unfortunate ones from the alleyways to be buried. If they could be identified their names would be listed in the square, if not only their descriptions and place of death. Rey would recognize a name every now and then- a girl from school, a boy she had sold a contraption to, even previous boarders who had moved on. When she first started recognizing names they felt like a knife to her stomach each time. A sharp pang that cut through her organs. Now, after so many through the years, the pain was dull. 

She slipped down through an alleyway, her usual shortcut that bypassed the Night Guard’s station. The men clad in white were friendly enough, but they never stuck around for long. They were brave people to face the dark, but their faces vanished and were replaced too often for her liking. To her knowledge they had yet to kill a creature of the dark since they were established. 

It seemed like a waste. 

Rey gripped her shawl tight around her neck, slipping through the narrow gap between buildings, her eyes on the ground in front of her when something curled around her arm.

“Penny for the poor, miss?” the figure asked. Rey turned and did not find a woman begging for alms but a young man holding a knife. Her blood ran cold, and swallowed hard trying to find her voice. 

“I don’t have any money,” she said. It was the truth. What little coin she had was tucked away in a lockbox in her room. Everything she had gathered that day was either filched or given to her. 

“What’s in the bag!” he demanded, his dirty face leaning in close to hers. His breath smelled like the dead. Rey flinched as he grabbed the strap of her bag laying against her breast, yanking it closer to look at the contents. “Oi, I bet I could get a pretty piece of coin for this scrap.” 

“No!” Rey shouted, grabbing back her bag and twisting away. Her weekly bags of scrap were what kept food on the table. What she had back home wasn’t enough to scrap or assemble into anything, not without new parts. 

The man lunged at her, grabbing at her bag again. She scratched at his face, nails digging into the skin and drawing blood. He cursed and swung at her. Knuckles connected with her cheekbone knocking her against the wall of the alley. The air was pushed from her lungs and she gasped, trying to see through the stars crowding her vision. 

A boot slammed into her stomach and she crumpled to the ground without much a fight. She could feel him pulling her bag from her shoulders, the metal clanging around within it. Rey reached out once more, grabbing the laces of the man’s muddy boots. He kicked her hand away. 

“Tell the dusk demons I say hello!” he chuckled before slamming his foot against her head. 

The world went black.

* * *

She woke to the rolling sounds of the night siren. The loud bell rattled her already tender head, shaking her thoughts around like dice. Rey sat up sending a searing pain through her side. A broken rib most likely. She winced as she touched her cheek. It was swollen but there was no blood, thank God. She reached out for her bag only to remember that the whole reason she was left lying in an alleyway was because it had been stolen. 

She leaned against a brick wall, grabbing onto the crevices to haul herself to her feet. Her side radiated pain with each movement and each breath. It was not going to be an easy walk home, that was for sure. She took a step forward, winced, but kept going. She spilled out onto the main road. There wasn’t a soul to be seen, only the sound of the siren reverberating against the buildings. 

Rey started forward again in the empty street, hobbling in the direction of Maz’s Boarding House. Then her brain stopped rattling. The sirens had halted. 

She stopped a moment, listening to the city. There were no birds, no trains, not a single peep. She had never been outside after the sirens had shut off. That was the point of no return. Doors were locked and no citizen in their right mind would open one, even for a human to take shelter. 

Rey raised a hand to her mouth and bit down on the flesh to keep her thoughts grounded. She was out after dark, she had no weapon and she couldn’t even run. Under the light of the moon the entire street looked different. As if colored in with charcoal. Maybe she could go to the park and hide in the brush? Or maybe slip under the front steps to a building for a night. The Night Guard! They would be out patrolling or hiding or whatever it is they did during dusk. She could look for them! 

Rey started forward, not wanting to be cornered in the alleyway again, and started towards the square to the Night Guard’s station. 

Movement caught her eye, something shuffling in her peripheral vision. Rey turned and found a man looking at her. He had a red hair neatly slicked back and pale skin. He was dressed in a black suit and overcoat. A gentleman, yet he was out so late? Rey was relieved to see another human out so late, even considering the oddity of it all. 

“My dear, you are out awfully late,” he said, his voice smooth. Rey took a step forward, her side aching with the movement. She opened her mouth to explain herself and perhaps even ask for his assistance when he smiled. Thin lips pulled into a sickening grin exposing long, sharp fangs. 

She felt the blood leave her face as the creature chuckled. His eyes melted into a dark crimson color, and he reached for her. 

“You should be a tasty snack.” 

Rey ran. Despite the throbbing in her temple and the fire in her ribs, she turned and dashed down the cobblestone street. She could feel him following behind her. Each step she took he matched. 

She darted down a side street and then dove into a small alcove that housed a door that was certainly locked. She bunched up her skirts and squeezed into the small shadow of the space. Rey held her breath and listened to his footsteps against the street. 

“Come out now! I’ll be quick. It won’t hurt a bit!” his cruel voice filled the dark street. She could hear his voice grow louder, his footsteps creeping closer and closer to her hiding spot. Her heart was beating louder than thunder, fear crawling across her skin like insects. 

“Armitage,” a voice cut through her fear. It was deep and booming. A thick baritone that drowned out the steady roar of her heartbeat. 

“Ren, this is my hunting ground,” the red-haired creature hissed. 

“Not tonight,” the voice returned. 

“You owe me one, Ren,” the creature snapped. There was a rustling sound as the red haired one retreated. 

It was quiet for a moment, and Rey’s heartrate almost returned to normal. She didn’t move. 

“You can come out now, little inventor,” the low voice said. It wasn’t booming like before, it was soft. Like being invited into someone’s home. Rey starts to step out of her hiding spot in spite of knowing what must be waiting for her. The voice that called was so soothing, as if whispering for her. As she moved out of her alcove her heart twisted. 

How did the creature know she was an inventor?

it was too late to turn back, Rey stepped into the moonlight. Her hand flew to her side, trying to hold her side in an attempt to soothe the pain blooming from it. 

“So, this is the girl I have heard so much about,” the voice crooned. Rey looked up and found a behemoth of a man before her. She came up to only his chest, which was dressed in a similar black suit as his red-haired friend. A thick black cloak hung from his shoulders, brushing against the street. Rey forced herself to look at his face and was surprised at what she found. He was pale, like the legends said, but he was… handsome. Whereas the other creature could have been anyone, this one was face she could never forget. He had dark eyes that glanced over her, and a crown of dark curls framing his face. She should be scared. She should be running like she had run from the other monster. But she didn’t feel unsafe. She felt… curious.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard of you,” she said, offering a weak smile. She kept her spine as straight as possible considering her injuries, and pushed her chin out. He chuckled.

“No, you couldn’t. People don’t usually see me and live to tell the tale,” his voice was light as if he was talking about the weather but the words made Rey’s stomach twist into knots. She was already weak from the thief’s attack and now the fear of what may happen during the rest of the night was enough to make her light headed. She stumbled, her knees failing to hold her weight and she quickly grabbed the door frame near by to keep herself standing. The second she began to falter, however, the night creature swept across the street to her side. Rey could feel his hand around her waist, the chill of his skin soothing the fire in her ribs. She froze in his arms. There was usually a warmth when a person was so close, he was like leaning against a block of ice. 

Rey looked up at him. He looked like a man, just like the other one did. She kept calling them “creatures” in her head but in truth she didn’t know what they were. They looked like men, but they were obviously dangerous. As a child they only tell you to fear them, they never describe what they looked like. A girl at the Jakku Home had once claimed she had seen a night creature. Everyone gathered around her bed as she described large rats with wings and giant tusks. She said they only spoke in screams and clicks and that they would fly overhead and snatch up victims. Except, this one looked nothing like that. Not at all. 

“What are you?” she asked, not realizing the words were leaving her lips. His grip on her waist didn’t moved, if anything his fingers pressed more closely to her skin. 

“Do you want to know?” there was a darkness in his eyes, something that hinted at a danger that she was unaware of. Well, she was certainly aware of it now. Rey set her lips into a firm line. “I didn’t think so.” 

He paused, raising a hand to her cheek. His fingers ghosted over the swollen skin which had blossomed into a purple bruise. 

“You’re hurt. Let me help you.” Rey furrowed her brow. There was so much she didn’t understand. 

“Why do you want to help me?” she asked, her voice cautious. Ren reached into his cloak and removed a small silver box. Rey leaned over and recognized it as one of her protection devices. This one in particular had a strap to be worn around the wrist under a sleeve and when jammed forward would release a small serrated blade. Rey had spent an entire night shaving the blade’s shape and had memorized each nook and notch in the piece.

“You made this?” he asked, flipping the mechanism over where a little “R” had been carved into the metal. It had been her small way to sign each one of a kind piece. It was also a special device designed to kill the creatures that came out at dusk and, obviously, it wasn’t doing its job as intended. 

“Um, yes,” she answered, her eyes following his pale fingers holding the device. She wasn’t sure if that was an entirely positive position to be in at the moment. 

“Consider me curious,” he said before leaning down and slipping an arm under knees and hefting her into his arms as if she weighed nothing at all. Rey gasped as the movement jostled her rib and Ren frowned down at her. “I will be more careful.” 

Suddenly they were flying through the air. In a single bound he had gone from the street level to the rooftops of the houses on the street. Rey couldn’t contain her surprise, fingers gripping the creature’s cloak as he carried her across shingles and past chimneys. The cool air sliced against her face as the city moved below them. She could see dark figures moving on the streets and she prayed they weren’t any other humans stuck outside. 

They reached the end of the row of houses and looked out over the edge of Chandrila. Rey stared at the expanse of smoke and chimneys and the stars laid out before them. There were so many, like tiny buttons sewn into the sky. 

“Oh wow,” Rey whispered to herself, gazing at the sight. She had never been out after dark, much less on a roof top at night. Ren looked down at her, puzzled by the reaction. 

Then, before anymore could be said, they were flying through air. Rey, once again, was startled by the movement. Her arms wrapped around Ren’s neck, holding on as he effortlessly landed on the roofs across the street. He hopped across a few more roof tops before stopping at a tall dark building sandwiched in the middle of a street between plain brown brick residences not unlike Rey’s own boarding house. The dark building stood an entire floor taller than the rest of the structures on the road and they easily walked across the roof to a window. It was already open, and Ren ducked in carrying her out of the wind into the dark warmth of a parlor. 

They paused for a moment, her arms still latched around his neck and his hands still holding her tightly to him. She looked into his dark eyes for a moment, looking for any other details that betrayed his status as a night creature. Besides the white skin, cold body and the occasional glimpse of fang he looked completely normal. It was odd to fear something your entire life only to have it turn out to be, well, rather pretty. 

Ren set her carefully down on a chaise near the roaring fireplace before turning to a small table off to the side. Rey took the chance to inspect the room. It was dim, but beautifully decorated with thick carpet and velvet curtains. A portrait was hung over the mantle- a man with pale skin and dark curls in a militia uniform from at least a hundred years ago. All red and white and gold buttons. There was no denying that it was of the man before her. Rey chewed on her lip, there was still so much to learn. 

“You don’t look like a monster,” she finally said. The fire crackled beside her and Ren looked over his cloaked shoulder at her. 

“I don’t?” he asked, amused. 

“I always thought the night creatures were terrifying and ugly,” Rey said. Ren turned around, a cup of tea in hand, and crossed to the chaise. He kneeled down in front of her, bringing his dark eyes level with her hazel ones. 

“You are not scared of me?” he asked, holding out the tea by the saucer. It was a white china with intricate flowers painted around the width and up the handle. 

“Consider me curious,” she echoed his words and took the offered cup, her fingers brushing his cold ones in the process. She took a tentative sip. It was warm and sweet and she drank greedily from the cup. She glanced up to find him watching her. Her cheeks reddened. “What may I call you?” 

“Kylo Ren, Supreme Leader of the Night,” he said, casually. 

“Oh, well, I’m Rey,” she said, awkwardly setting down her cup and extending a hand for him to shake. He slowly took it, his chill skin meeting hers sending a shock through her body. 

“Rey what?” he asked. 

“Just Rey,” she answered. They held one another’s hand for a moment longer than needed before breaking the hold. 

“Well, Rey, your little contraptions are rather intriguing,” he said, taking out the serrated blade trigger from before. He twisted it around his hand, holding it to the fire light for inspection. 

“Do they ever work?” she asked. 

“Occasional, yes, though not fatal,” he said. Rey was quite proud to hear such an accomplishment. “How did you assemble it?”

“Oh well, it was quite simple once I had shaped the blade,” she said, quickly diving into the explanation. She sat her tea down on a small side table and took the device from his hand, triggering the mechanism and letting the blade stick out. “See, there’s a spring and a-”

She sat up, trying to show the device more clearly but moved too fast. Fresh pain blossomed in her side and the shock of it made her jump. The blade slipped in her hand, nicking the end of her finger. She winced, holding her side and letting the device fall into her lap. 

The pain slowly began to ebb away, the initial shock of it all wearing off. Rey looked up at her companion ready to apologize for her hasty clumsiness when she found him in a much different state than before. Whereas a moment ago he was calmly kneeling beside her and listening to her speak, he was now crouched closer, nearly on top of her. A hand gripped the chaise on either side of her, his face pressed close, his dark eyes focused directly on her right hand where a small bead of blood had formed on the cut. 

She could feel his breath on her skin and suddenly her strange courteous night guide was the creature she had feared her entire life. Her mind strayed to the bodies found in the morning, their skin pale, eyes frozen in shock, and bodies completely drained of blood. 

Ren licked his lips and Rey could barely breathe. 

“So, your kind, you… you drink blood?” she asked, her voice strained as she tried to lean back away from his imposing figure. Everybody knew that’s what the night monsters did, the bite marks, the bodies- it all checked out. But in this moment, at the mercy of such a creature, she wished it was the farthest thing from the truth. 

“Yes,” he answered, his voice low and gruff. He quickly raised himself onto the chaise, pressing her back into the floral fabric of the furniture as he loomed over her. A cold hand caught her wrist, bringing her bleeding finger close to his face. He took in a breath, savoring the smell of iron in the air. 

He looked down at her wide hazel eyes before slowly pressing her fingertip to his lips. His lips were soft, but cold, as Rey watched him spread crimson across his mouth. His tongue flickered out, lapping the blood from her hand. A moan shook his chest as he tasted her.

His grip loosened on her wrist and she quickly slipped her hand from his grasp, holding it close to her own heart. 

“You taste _delicious_ ,” he growled. His body pressed against her skirts, his cloak draping across both of them on the chaise as Ren leaned closer into her. A hand moved to her brown hair, gently twisting a lock around a long, thin finger. His mouth moved to her neck, cold breath blowing against her throat as he took in her scent. Ren pressed his mouth to the underside of her jaw and Rey was all too aware of the sharp fangs that lingered beneath his soft lips. “I always thought you’d be exceptionally good.” 

Rey froze, goosebumps rising on her arms as Ren cuddled closer to her body, his lips leaving a trail of kisses along her jaw. 

“Always?” she repeated the word even though it came out as barely a whisper. It was the part that caught her attention, the single word that raised the hair on the back of her neck. 

“I keep an eye on you,” he said, his tongue pressing against the side of her throat and marking a stripe up the flesh. “During the night I’d watch you work by candlelight. Hands moving over junk until it was something useful, something prized. It was beautiful.”

Rey shivered under his kisses and wondered how many times he had sat outside her window. She often worked into the night, her small porthole window never seemed big enough for any creature to slip through so while she kept it unlocked and curtains seemed unnecessary. Sometimes she would peer out it, looking for the demons that owned the dark. She never saw one, but thinking back on the memories knowing someone was watching made her fingers tremor. 

“They always told me humans were ignorant, but you- you are so clever,” Ren raised his head, hungry eyes now bright red staring down at her. 

“Are you going to kill me?” Rey asked, trying to blink the moisture from her eyes. Her body was frozen with fear, not to mentioned pinned beneath Ren and also too battered to make any kind of daring escape. She could only face the inevitable with a brave face. 

“What? No,” he said. He seemed… hurt. 

“Wh- what do you want?” her voice shook and she chastised herself for it. 

“Stay with me,” he gasped, as if he didn’t speak the words now they’d vanish from the world. His hand had moved down from her hair, his fingers caressing her cheek. Rey’s brow furrowed. The fire crackled and her mind spun. 

“I can’t,” she said, slowly sitting up. Ren allowed the action, moving away so that she could move freely. 

“I can take care of you, I can teach you about the night,” he said, his fingers holding onto the end of her sleeve, unable to unhook himself from her person completely. 

“I’m sorry, I can’t,” she echoed, standing up and crossing the room unaware of the absence of pain in her side. 

“What do I need to do,” he called out. She stopped and peered over her shoulder. “What can I do?” 

“I don’t know you,” she admitted, shaking her head. “I belong to the sun and the day.” 

He looked down at his pale hands. Rey considered him for a moment. There was more to learn, there was always more to learn. 

“I could write to you,” she said quietly. He looked up at her, his eyes hopeful. She continued. “And then you could write back to me. We would get to know one another, and we could still learn.” 

He looked at her for a moment and Rey twisted the end of her sleeve nervously before tacking on a- “is this acceptable?” 

“Yes,” he smiled. “That is acceptable.”

* * *

They wrote to each other for years. Every morning a letter appeared on the doorstep to the boarding house with an intricate red wax seal and Rey’s name written in careful cursive. As she went about her day Rey would read over the letter, soaking in the knowledge and smiling at the personal touches added in. During the evenings she would leave a similar letter in response on the doorstep to the tall dark house in the middle of the road. Occasionally, a passerby would tell her that house was abandoned and not to bother. 

He asked her to join him many times. She would reply noting that he was rather impatient for an immortal being. 

Rey would sit by her window after dark, fiddling with scrap or reading. She made sure to set the candle on the window sill and lean as closely as she could to the glass. He was there, she knew it, checking in. He never tried to enter the house, or speak to her through the glass. In fact, she never saw him in the entire time they were passing letters despite his insistence that the night was safe for her. That every creature in Chandrila knew better than to even step foot on her street. 

She smiled at the thought but continued her routine of sitting by her window, letting him see her through the glass, before going to bed and leaving the nighttime unexplored. 

It was twenty years after her night with him. She looked down at her pile of letters kept neatly stacked in a trunk beside her bed. The new envelope from that morning sat on her desk, unread. She didn’t need to read it today. 

Rey spent the entire day under an oak tree in the park. She watched the people pass through, walking their dogs and playing with their children. She didn’t recognize anyone from the Jakku Home. Maybe they’d all moved onto the better jobs. Perhaps they were at home with their own family. She smiled at the thought. 

The sun set and as the night sirens blared through the city, she walked down her familiar path to the tall, dark house. However, instead of a letter, she set herself on the step. 

The sirens halted, the city once again bathed in complete silence. The door swung open and Ren, his eyes downcast to the ground expecting a letter, appeared. 

He looked exactly like he had all those years ago. Same dark curls and broad shoulders. His gaze climbed her figure before resting on her face. 

“Hi Ren,” she said, a smile pulling at her lips. “I’m ready now.”


End file.
